#corallorhiza

[thebashfulbotanist]

A plant I had been hoping to see for years! This is a striped orchid, Corallorhiza striata. There are a few Corallorhiza species where we go hiking in Washington State, but this one is one of the less common to see. You're more likely to spot C. maculata or C. mertensiana, called spotted and Pacific coralroots, respectively. I found this one on the Olympic Peninsula while backpacking up the Elwha.

Corallorhiza orchids, the coralroots, are mycoheterotrophic, meaning they parasitize mycorrhizal fungi instead of using photosynthesis like most plants. This means they'll just die if someone tries to cultivate them, which is honestly probably a good thing, given how threatened orchids are by poaching.

[geopsych]

Before I get to the fungus (and I will!), here’s my most exciting find of the day, although not the most beautiful picture. I had been told years ago that there were at least 6 orchids in the area I go to for photos, but over the years since then I’ve only found 4. But today I saw this nondescript stem standing lit up among the shadows of the woods. I thought it might be beechdrops but it wasn’t. The only other possibility was some species of coralroot, which is an orchid, and upon doing some searches I find that’s what it is! Autumn coralroot. I thought it was finished blooming but it turns out sometimes this is all it does because it’s (nsfw!) self-pollinating. I wish I had taken more pictures but I was sort of in a mushroom trance (not the kind where you eat them, but just from seeing so many) at the time.  I’m not sure I could find it again. I had wandered off the trail and only noticed it because the sun was hitting it right then. So this may not look like much but I haven’t been this jazzed about something for a while. New orchid. Yay!

[calochortus]

20200606-P6061925.jpg by Yuji Kozaki Via Flickr: Cornus unalaschkensis, Alaskan Bunchberry, Ingalls Creek Trail #1215, Chelan County, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Washington

[cedar-glade]

William and I found two individual cliestogamous autumn coral roots and couldn’t take decent photos of the dang things because of how terrible the lighting was and our lack of a decent light.

Corallorhiza odontorhiza var. odontorhiza

This is a self pollinating species do to its closed parianth and is much more widespread. Despite the small amount of viable seed per individual we still can expect a large amount of viable seeds from one plant due to how many seeds orchids will produce on each flower on average. This var. is far more widespread than its chasmogamous, Corallorhiza odontorhiza var. pringlei, relative. We also see that this cliestogamous var. tends to have quite a bit of genetic variation in populations despite the fact that it is self pollinated. Botanical curiosities aside and blunders of modern day photo-graphical failures aside, it was very nice encountering this species once again at Red River Gorge and to be able to share this encounter with friends. William for scale. 

[pnwbotany]

Striped Coralroot, Corallorhiza striata (Orchidaceae). #coralroot #stripedcoralroot #corallorhiza #corallorhizastriata #orchid #orchidaceae #plants #flowers #botany #wildflowers #plantid #plantidentification (at Leavenworth, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByloyiUA1L_/?igshid=14533u3hxj1mc

[pnwbotany]

Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata. Orchidaceae family. While some may think this looks like red asparagus, it’s actually a parasitic orchid! This plant has no leaves and does not perform photosynthesis! It gets all of its nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi. #orchids #coralroot #corallorhizamaculata #corallorhiza #summercoralroot #plants #botany #pnw #nature

[bluebrightly]

JUST ONE: Coralroots

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